Patient Compassion

Over and over in the Old Testament, King after King did evil in the sight of the Lord. Even though God sent prophets to call them to account and return to worshipping only Him, they still rebelled. Yet God was patient with them. 2 Chronicles 35:15 is an example: “The LORD, the God of their […]

How Fertile is the Soil of Your Relationships?

How we relate to one another may determine how fertile the soil is for the seeds of the gospel. Shallow relationships may not allow for the roots of the message of Jesus to run deep. As Jesus explained it in Matthew 13:5-6, because there was no “depth of soil,” there was “no root” and the […]

Crying Over the Removal of Tears

Every time I read Revelation 21:1-7, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about the removal of suffering. I know that’s ironic since this is the passage that talks about God “wiping away every tear (NASB).” But as long as I’m in this world, there will still be tears. Yet these verses are not just […]

Unending Joy

Joy in this world is elusive, but Jesus gives us another option if we choose to follow Him.

“You Can’t Name Him That!”

“And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” Luke 1:61, NASB Tradition can be a powerful force to face. When it was time to circumcise Elizabeth’s new born son, “they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father (Luke 1:59).” After all, that was […]

God Enabled Generosity

We are encouraged to be generous, to give freely to others, to share what we have. Yet do we consider that God gives us the ability to be generous? All that we have is given to us by the grace of God. In 1 Chronicles 29, David acknowledges this before God: “But who am I […]

Waiting Through Trials

Waiting on God can be difficult. When we are in the middle of our struggles, when all hope is lost, we want immediate relief. It’s hard to trust God’s purposes in the pain we now experience. Job is often looked at as someone with patient endurance. He remained faithful to God even after he lost […]

Going Against Logic

Sometimes God calls his faithful to do things that go against logic. In the case of Obadiah in 1 Kings 18:1-20, he was asked to do something he thought would get Elijah killed. Instead it set up a show down that revealed God’s ultimate power. During a severe famine, Obadiah is helping Ahab scrounge for […]

The Consequence of Impatience

Waiting on God to act, to respond to our fervent prayers, is hard. We can know God is faithful, that He keeps His promises, yet find ourselves wondering if God will act. Waiting becomes a test of whether we truly believe God will do what He says he will do. If you’ve ever found yourself […]

Wrestling With Ourselves

There is a battle going on inside of you, a wrestling match between the Spirit of God and the flesh. As Paul described it in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not […]